Knowmore undertakes systemic advocacy to ensure that civil litigation is an accessible and effective option for survivors of child abuse.
This includes:
- writing to all Australian governments urging them to take action
- contributing to law reform inquiries
- raising awareness among survivors and the broader community.
Background
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s Redress and civil litigation report was released in 2015. It made 15 recommendations to make civil litigation a more effective way of holding institutions to account and obtaining justice for survivors. The recommendations included:
- removing limitation periods for survivors to bring legal claims against institutions
- strengthening laws to ensure that all institutions can be held responsible for child sexual abuse
- ensuring that institutions develop trauma-informed guidelines for responding to compensation claims.
Knowmore supports the full implementation of the Royal Commission’s civil litigation recommendations by all Australian governments. We also support the introduction of important supplementary reforms that:
- extend the application of the Royal Commission’s recommendations to survivors of non-sexual abuse
- allow courts to overturn unfair settlement agreements between survivors and institutions
- protect survivors of child abuse from claim farming.
